53 Mile Week!

STL getting some love in the running community, Max King, Meb, Mary Wittenberg on the NYC Marathon, and Lukas Verzbicas and his recovery.

Wednesday, September 12th - 6 miles (1 up, 3 x (3 x 200, 1 x 400), 2 down).  SLU track workout after work with Crystal and Tim.  First time at that venue, and it is a really nice track - sort of in the hood, but a nice view of the city.  Ran into Coach Tim at the track, and asked for a quick rust buster, to which he laid out the workout above.  Crystal had 12x400's at 78-80, so tried to coordinate my reps with her.  Ended up doing an extra set to help her out.  Felt ok - definitely some effort to maintain the splits, but my form was fine.  It was just earlier this year that we were hitting 70-71 quarters, but now struggling to hit sub 80 .  37, 44 (oops), 39, 1:17; 39, 38, 39, 1:17, 39, 38, 1:17 were the splits.

Thursday, September 13rd - 8 miles.  Ran with Crystal before work - out and back on Old Faithful.  Nice and easy, which was a welcome change for once.  Nice morning to run - my body is definitely appreciating the cooler weather.  9:03 pace average, I believe.

Friday, September 14th - 5 miles.  Ran after work - had intentions of doing tempo, but I was just too beat up and wanted to get in easier mileage.  Out and back towards Troy - actually kind of warm on the run, but made it through ok.  Splits were: 8:17, 8:19, 8:19, 8:02, something slow.

Saturday, September 15th - 13 miles.  Fast Eddie's run with the Wolfpack.  Quick 3 miler in town beforehand (just to get in extra mileage since running afterwards was not going to happen) - did 270 loop with Tim catching me for the last mile.  Drove up to Fast Eddie's in Alton with Tim and Megan, then parked and got situated before we took off.  Rest of the group was running 20-26.2 miles (yes that's crazy), and didn't want to run for that long.  Anyways, the Madison County bike trails run all the way out in that area, so ran on the roads for about a mile before finding the trail.  Pretty cool because you run on top of a levee, so nice views, not to mention the overcast and breezy conditions so just about perfect for running.  Started out the first mile or so with Megan before Tim and I broke off - got in a nice groove, and ran out before turning around at the 5 mile mark before heading back and meeting up with Megan.  Someone conveniently set up a water stand 2 miles out from Fast Eddies, so had some nice refreshments on the way back.  Rest of the group met up shortly afterwards, then we enjoyed some post run lunch and beverages!  I really liked that trail - running alongside the river, some small hills but not too difficult, and I appreciated the different scenary.  With all the miscellaneous stops and whatnot, averaged right around 9 minute pace for the run.

Sunday, September 16th - 6 miles.  After an early birthday celebration the night before, headed out for an out and back on the trail towards Home Depot.  Crystal had her long run, so tried to coordinate that we could catch a couple miles together.  Unbelievably, we met up within 5 seconds of what we had planned - Crystal is an amazing planner!!!  Anyways, felt pretty tired, but got in a groove and finished it out.  Then sat on the couch for many hours watching football!  46:10 total - splits were: 8:02, 7:44, 7:14 (oops) , 7:59, 7:51, 7:17.  53 miles this week, 109 miles in September, 1259 miles in 2012.  Very pleased this week.  First 50 mile week since marathon training last April, and I believe highest mileage week in 2012!

Monday, September 17th - 7 miles.  Big River Monday night run with Craig.  Definitely felt beat up from the last few weeks, so wanted to go slower.  Craig and I started with the intentions of running 8-8:30's, but quickly got locked in to 8's.  Very humid outside, and hints of rain but never came - got in a nice groove the last couple miles, and felt good at the end.  55:12 total.

Track work tonight, then as much mileage as I can get in the next couple days before heading out to Las Vegas!

Fall can't get here any sooner

Chicago marathon field, and Ryan Hall considering hiring a coach.

Friday, September 7th - 0!  Got home late from work, and it was literally raining cats and dogs.  It finally dissipated at 10 p.m. or so, but with a long run early morning I opted to just chill out.

Saturday, September 8th - 12 miles.  Ran with the Wolfpack on Old Faithful for the monthly East Side run.  Good turnout, and ended up running with Colby for the entire way.  Felt ok but a little run down with the recent "heavy" mileage, but we kept a good pace and good rhythm.  Definitely a lot easier to do a long run with somebody, not to mention absolutely perfect weather - sunny and in the high 50's.  1:33:47 overall (47:32/46:15)  Afterwards, converged to Global Brew for some post run beverages!

Sunday, September 9th - 5 miles.  Nice and late - procrastination sucks, but needed to get this mileage in.  Nice and slow, and looped around the neighborhood and 270 loop.  44 minutes, I believe.  40 miles this week, 56 miles in September, 1206 miles in 2012.

Monday, September 10th - 7 miles.  Big River Group run.  Thought we were going slow, but I thought wrong.  Ran with Crystal, Gabe, Matty D, and a few others on the 7 mile loop.  Legs felt like poop almost the entire way but just kept going.  Got locked in by the 3rd mile, and hung on to the end.  49:18 total - not too shabby.

Tuesday, September 11th - 8 miles + strides.  Late start after work with Crystal - ran from her house, looped around Ebbets Field, then to the track.  4x100 at mile pace, 4x40 meters at 80-90% effort.  Felt overall pretty decent, but legs are definitely a little worn out.  65:08 total.

Off to SLU track tonight for track work, then just more mileage the rest of the week.  Hanging tough!

Don't call it a comeback

Bolt, Allyson Felix, and attempt at marathon in a suit world record.

Tuesday, September 4th - 4.5 miles.  Ran with Timmy after work around Francis Park.  It was 94, sunny, and just uber humid.  This last week of nasty weather has been just God-awful!  Intentionally kept it slow, and every step was painful.  Not my idea of fun, but had scored some all inclusive Cardinals tickets for the night and needed to get a workout in so I didn't feel too bad destroying a few hot dogs and beer.  39:30 total, and it was tough the entire way.

Wednesday, September 5th - 6.5 miles.  Happy NFL Opening Day game!  Another ridiculous hot day, so ended up thinking I was going to skip this run.  Watched the game, then watch part of the U.S. Open Quarterfinals match before guilting myself to go run at 10:30 p.m.  Did a new loop around town, one without as many stop and turns, and may do this new loop from now on since it's a lot smoother than my other one.  It was nasty humid still, but no sun so wasn't too warm.  I was soaked in sweat within 10 minutes though.  Felt ok for the most part, but glad to get this in.  50 minutes or so (47:55 - 8:19, 8:26, 8:02, 7:56, 7:50, 7:19 then jogged the last 0.5 mile in).

Thursday, September 6th.  7 miles.  Got home from work, and it looked like a big storm was going through. Cool, overcast, and windy - had to take advantage of this now.  So did out and back towards Troy on the trail - went out pretty fast and slowed it down, but then decided to incorporate a couple miles of tempo in there since I have done virtually 0 speedwork this summer - not to mention, it was actually nice and cool and wanted to take advantage of the conditions.  Tempo pace didn't feel too hot, and felt my body relaxing and surging a lot so need to work on speed some more.  But overall very satisfied as 2 miles tempo felt not awful (lol) and rewarded myself with a 1 mile cooldown, then a session of P90X Ab Ripper.  42:47 for the 6 miles (7:14, 7:10, 7:45, 7:31, 6:34, 6:24).

Actually another decent week of runniing coming around.  Easy mileage tonight, group long run is on the docket for Saturday, then will attempt to get in some mileage on Sunday to hopefully hit 40+.  Feeling good!

Cheaters never win

This ebay ad for Mo Farah's ice bath water is just creepy, and the very strange story of Kip Litton.

I don't really get this story, but it's just weird.  Who does this?  Who goes through all this difficult work to fake an entire marathon career?  You can't sneak one past the running community - people will figure it out eventually.  Look at that knucklehead Paul Ryan, who claimed he ran a sub 3 hour marathon (in reality he ran a 4:01 marathon).  That claim was quickly investigated, and he published a response that it was all a misunderstanding.  Really???

I can speak from experience that we have researched for cheaters who have allegedly placed higher than they actually did - St. Pat's Race where we found out Crystal finished lower than we thought, then researched furiously looking for pictures, athlinks sights, etc. until it was determined that a 30 minute 5Ker could not possibly run a 30 minute 5 mile race, and she was consequently disqualified.  Cheaters never win!

Friday, August 31st - 3 miles.  Quick run after work - just hot and humid.  I don't remember times, but was around the 8-9 min pace.  131 miles in August, 1156 miles in 2012.

Saturday, September 1st - 6 miles in the evening.  Spent the morning sleeping in and watching football, and eventually made it out for a run.  Awfully humid, and I was sweating profusely on the run right from the start. Did a mile out on the trail, then looped around Village Circle which unfortunately had every single street light out which made that particular mile kind of creepy (and my fastest split).  49:14 total for the run.

Sunday, September 2nd - 10 miles.  Out and back towards Troy on the trails.  Didn't start this run until 2 p.m., and it was brutally hot and humid.  Started off slow, and kept up the pace until the turnaround near Drost park where I ran into my buddy Jeff.  The whole way back was brutal - the sun kept fighting its way out, and I was just suffering the entire way in.  Would have probably walked, if I wasn't under a time constraint since I had an afternoon BBQ.  8:22 pace for the run, I believe.  40 miles this week, 1166 miles in 2012.  First 40 miler in a while!

Monday, September 3rd - 5 miles.  Waited until 1 p.m. to get this run in, and once again it was just nasty humid outside.  Out and back on the trail, and it just sucked.  Legs felt like complete garbage, and I was soaked from sweat within 2 minutes of my run.  Did P90X Ab Ripper afterwards, which is 16 minutes of hell and fury.  Ouch!  40:24 total for the run.

Trying to make it through another high mileage week - going to try to sneak in some speedwork, but definitely targeting 40 miles +!

Crappy Mileage

Bolt runs 19.66, US American Marathon team to all run NYC, Boston being affected by new qualifying times, Meb, and more Meb.

Tuesday, August 21st - 7 miles.  Ran out and back on Troy loop, then tacked on a slow last mile at the end to cool down a little since I had gone out a little harder than I would have liked.  Felt better - long weekend took a lot out of me!  Splits were: 7:56, 7:59, 7:54, 7:54, 7:48, 7:43 (47:15), 8 something.

Wednesday, August 22nd - 6 miles.  I don't remember this run, but wrote down this mileage..

Thursday, August 23rd - 8 miles.  Home Depot Loop with Pat and Crystal.  Pat ran the first couple miles with us, then Crystal and I finished it out.  Felt pretty good, with the exception of my stomach almost blowing up.  1:09:47 total.

Friday - Sun - 0!  Chicago Bachelor Party with Marc and a group.  My sister said it was the first time she had never seen me not run in Chicago.  Just pitiful performance on my part.  24 miles this week, 107 miles in August, 1132 in 2012.  Struggling at my 2000 mile goal.

Monday, August 27th - 6 miles.  My return to running after a long weekend.  Laid on the couch all day until finally guilt crept in and went out at 10 p.m. to get in some mileage.  Felt like complete garbage the entire way.  Looped around Village Circle, then did the 270 route.  7:56 average

Tuesday, August 28th - 4 miles.  Ran late after work.  Just felt like complete crap, and had trouble moving in general.  I'm lucky to have gotten in 4 miles quite honestly.  No watch, but it wasn't very fast.

Wednesday, August 29th - 3 miles.  Had a scheduled dinner with a former coworker, so had to get this one in fast.  Was 95, hot and humid - not exactly ideal conditions.  Plans were to get in a quick 2, but thought I could get 1 more mile in if I pushed it.  Didn't feel too great, and the effort was way too hard.  Out and back towards Troy - last mile, was red lining but I had no time to spare and needed to get back.  If I didn't have the time crunch, I would have walked.  Thought my splits would have been better, but did all I could that day.  Splits were: 7:31, 7:14, 6:49.

Thursday, August 30th - 8 miles.  Early run with Crystal - out and back towards Home Depot.  Nice morning to run, but definitely humid.  Slow start, but then she and I got locked in and ran the middle 6 miles within 3 seconds each mile.  Legs felt like poop at the 2nd mile, but never got any worse.  Picked it up slightly on the last mile, but unintentionally.  1:07:15 total.

Trying to piece together a good weekend of running this Labor Day weekend.  If I can get to 40 miles, it will be considered a success.  So sad :(

Mo-bot

Bolt and unlimited Chicken McNuggets, best Olympian?, top 10 Olympic moments, when will Mo run the marathon?, Olympic champ, David Rudisha, weakest athlete, blog of the men's marathon, top 50 Olympic moments by Sebastian Coe, and the lovely Miss Kara Goucher.

Monday, August 13th - 8 miles.  Big River group run with Crystal, Joe, Julie, and Tim.  Did the 7 mile loop, then ended up at DuBourgh for drills and strides.  Averaged 7:40's for the run, which felt pretty good actually.

Tuesday, August 14th - 7 miles.  Ran after work, I don't remember much of it but went ok because I don't have any bad memories or scars from it.

Wednesday, August 15th - 5 miles.  Again, don't remember this at all.  I really need to blog more often since my short term memory is going to sh*t.

Thursday, August 16th - 0!  Crapped out, but the rest day was nice with the upcoming workout over the weekend.

Friday, August 17th - 4 miles (31:29).  Ran nice and easy and zoomed through this one.  Out and back towards Troy in perfect weather - legs felt great.

Saturday, August 18th - 12 miles (2 up, ~7 miles tempo, 3 down).  Forest Park run with Crystal.  Perfect morning to get out, and the workout was the dreaded 2 mile loop for an hour at 7 min/mile pace.  Was a little concerned with my lack of fitness since I haven't done too much.  Warmed up, then got at it.  Felt pretty good starting out, but had troubles trying to get locked in to pace and getting into a good rhythm which is critical for these types of workouts.  The challenges of our Forest Park loop is it's rolling hills so hard to get locked in.  2nd lap - really was struggling up the initial hill, but got pretty locked in for a good 6 minutes before I really started to struggle.  The lack of hill workouts and speed for that matter were killing me.  The last stretch of the loop is a gradual incline that lasts about 1/3 of a mile - at that point, I knew I was toast, and needed to back off so I could help Crystal on the last loop.  Ran a mile pretty slow, then met her for the last loop.  Felt great at first, but had to fight through the gradual incline.  We had another 5-6 minutes to go, so went through the loop again part ways and ended close to the science center.  Cooled down, then stretched out for awhile.  Warmup/cooldown pace was all 8's, my workout splits were: 6:51, 6:50, 6:50, 6:50, 6:48, 6:45.  Will definitely take it, and the hills are a good 5-10 seconds extra effort on pace.

Sunday, August 19th - 0!  Yep, I suck.  Golfed during the day, then couldn't make it out the door.  I suck.
36 miles this week, 83 miles in August, 1108 miles in 2012.

Monday, August 20th - 3 miles.  600 METERS OF MADNESS - jogged up to DuBourgh for the first hopefully annual track meet event.  Just a blast, and ran my heat against Pat and Tim since there was nonstop trash talking all around.  We cut our race to 400 meters, and led off the festivities.  Lined up in lane 3, then took off as fast as I could since I pretty much had the disadvantage with leading the way in my lane.  Tim was hot on my tail, and kept trying to separate but really couldn't get him off.  At the 200, I was pretty tired, and tried to accelerate as much as I could on the turn.  Last 100, heard the equivalent of a sound of balloon popping (Tim exhaling and pretty much letting up), so I coasted in and Mo-botted across the finish line.  Cooled down, then watched the rest of the festivities which concluded with Gibbs beating Rich in the 600 meter showdown!

Olympics Recap

100 meter over the years, awesomeness in the 10K, more on the Dynamic Duo, marathon winner, more on Kiprotich and Meb is a stud, what a surge at mile 23, Meb, don't disrespect Meb ever again, "Sir" Mo Farah?, BOLT, and disappointment with the American women marathoners in London.

Took a brief hiatus from blogging with a crazy schedule, but this will allow me to provide my Olympic summary and personal insights.  What an amazing 17 days, and saw some mind-blowing racing and some truly "Olympic" moments.  The Olympics are one of my favorite things to watch, and definitely caught as much as possible on TV/DVR.  So without further adieu, my Olympic summary and top 10 moments:

Top 10 Olympic Moments (for me):

10: Men's Tennis Final - Andy Murray.  I'm a Federer guy, but watching Murray finally win a big tourney in his backyard was pretty cool.  He bounced back from a Wimbledon thrashing by Roger and won gold.

9: 10 Meter Men's Platform Diving Final - David Boudisha.  Comes down to 3 divers within 0.15 points.  All hit great dives, but Boudisha was the best.  Awesome that he pulled through when the stakes/pressure was the highest.

8: Dream Team - U.S. Men's Basketball.  In my opinion, still couldn't beat the Original 1992 Men's Dream Team, but still a formidable presence.  Pretty much laid waste to the rest of the world on their way to a gold medal.

7: Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh - 3 peat. Lost 1 set in 3 Olympics.  Just stunning.

6: Women's 200 Meter Final - Allyson Felix.  Gold was all she wanted in the 200 (beat in the last 2 Olympic finals), and gold she got.  She kept going too in all the sprint relays, and brought home a lot more.

5: Men's 800 Meter Final - David Rudisha.  Holy crap, what a race!  World record times, and perhaps the best race of the Olympics (result-wise).  Rudisha had the previous world record, but also had the assistance of rabbits - this time, he just took off and went for it all and got it.

4: Men's Marathon - Meb.  As in his great 4th place finish.  I posted this yesterday on Facebook, and truly meant every word.  He has been counted out so many times, yet continues to prove all doubters wrong.  A big thumbs down by the Olympic committee not to recognize Meb before the race, but he used this as fuel to help his cause.  He is a class act, and a fighter.  I respect him as much as any athlete in the world.  He should be the shining role model for any current athlete out there - he's all heart.

Peter Kim

Yesterday via mobile

Really stoked after Meb's 4th place finish in the Men's Olympic Marathon. He was completely out of the race but kept fighting and fighting and clawed his way to a great finish. Just an amazing role model and a wonderful career for one of the best American runners of all time who has taught me never to give up!

3: Michael Phelps.  Amazing to watch this dude's career, and an amazing encore by him in London.  4 golds and 2 silvers - not too shabby.  Congrats on a legendary career, Michael!

2: Usain Bolt.  Does anything else really need to be said?  He is truly a living legend, and perhaps the best of all time.  Was stunning to watch the 100 and 200 (he seriously needs to run through the finishes!!!), and the end of the 4x100 men's relay was crazy nuts when he and Bailey faced off.  Bolt is freaking amazing!

1: Men's 10,000 Meter Final - Mo and Galen.  What a race!  What heart from Mo and Galen, and an amazing final 400 meters.  I love the reactions from both guys at the end, as their friendship is genuine and they worked together for the last couple years to achieve Olympic glory.  Hairs are standing on my arm thinking of that final surge by Rupp - just absolutely amazing!

Oh yeah, I guess I need to talk about my own personal running haha.  I pieced together as much as I could remember.

Week of July 23rd - July 29th - 33 miles.  113 in July, 1007 for 2012.

Week of July 30th - August 5th - 28 miles.  126 miles in July (eek!), 15 miles in August, 1040 for 2012.

Monday, August 6th - 0!  Recovering from golf trip over the weekend.  Played golf at Cog Hill (in Lemont, IL a little south of Chi), and TPC at Deer Run.  Played like crap, but had a hell of a time.

Tuesday, August 7th - 0!  See above

Wednesday, August 8th - 4 miles.  29:39 (15:12/14:27).  Felt like poop, but made it through ok.  Weather was a lot nicer.

Thursday, August 9th - 6 miles.  I don't remember much out of this, quite honestly - just the mileage.

Friday, August 10th - 8 miles.  Ran 5 miles at Creve Couer park during lunch - weather was nice, but very sunny.  Hit first 2 miles in 6:28, 6:43 then slowed it down to finish it out (7:25, 7:10, slow).  My body doesn't remember "fast" at all, but wanted to get a little speed in this week.  Ran 3 at home when I got home before heading out to dinner.  2 easy, 1 really easy.

Saturday, August 11th - 5 miles.  Ran home from Jared's house after his daughter's birthday party.  Just an awesome night to run, albeit it was pretty dark on the trail.  Tried the runkeeper app on my phone since I didn't have a watch, and clocked it in.  It says I averaged 7:56 per mile, but this is skewed because I picked it up on the trail portion that runs through the woods (really dark and wanted to get through there fast) - in essence, I'm pretty sure I went faster because the distance seemed a bit short.  Regardless, felt great out there.

Sunday, August 12th - 9 miles.  Ran with a couple of old friends, Mike and Crystal.  Been a while since we got this crew together.  80 minutes easy was the workout, and we gabbed the entire way on Old Faithful on a nice morning.  I think we clocked 1:19:20 overall with 8:11 and 7:50 as our last 2 miles (didn't wear a watch), so was a good workout.  Had breakfast and watched the Men's Olympic Final afterwards - nice way to begin the day!  32 miles this week, 47 miles in August, 1072 for 2012.

Monday night group run tonight, as I begin to ramp my mileage back to the 40's!